1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to portable electronic devices in general, and particularly to a stand assembly for supporting a portable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a tablet personal computer (tablet PC) that has a touch-screen liquid crystal display rather than a physical keyboard has been rapidly coming into widespread use. Typically, a tablet PC is operated either by being held by a hand or operated by being placed on a desk or the like. When operated on a desk or the like, the tablet PC is used in a standing position by using a stand in some cases.
For example, a tablet PC may have hinges provided on the rear surface side of the tablet PC, and a stand assembly provided rotatably about the hinges. The stand assembly is constituted of two arms, which are connected to the hinges and which have the same length, and a connecting section that connects the two arms.
The tablet PC, is sometimes used by being placed, standing horizontally or vertically on a stand. For example, a long side of the chassis of the tablet PC is brought into contact with a placement surface and the stand assembly is swung on the hinges so as to bring the connecting section into contact with the placement surface, thus enabling the tablet PC to horizontally stand. Further, the tablet PC can be set to horizontally stand at a desired angle by adjusting the swing angle of the stand assembly.
Meanwhile, the tablet PC can be set to vertically stand by bringing a short side of the chassis of the tablet PC into contact with the placement surface and also bringing the distal end of an arm into contact with the placement surface, the distal end acting as the supporting point. However, when the tablet PC is set to vertically stand as described above, it has been difficult to stably stand the tablet PC at an angle with respect to a direction that is orthogonal to the placement surface.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an improved stand assembly that selectively stands a tablet PC.